Victorian Styles - Built when labor, wood and evidently paint were cheap.

Gothic Revival 1840-1880

Gothic style is based loosely on the English country cottage which had gothic medieval details from earlier churches. Alexander Jackson Davis (American architect) published the first house pattern book which happened to champion this style. It's not prevalent in this area. A very steeply pitched roof, usually with steep cross gables which often have decorative trim along the edges are hallmarks. Most have one-story porches with flattened gothic arch trim. Board and batten siding, oriole or arched windows, one-story bay windows are all decorative elements used. Early examples of this style are not really Victorian in size or feel and are often referred to as Carpenter Gothic. Later ones are very "Victorian" and often referred to as High Victorian Gothic.

Main St., West Winfield

North St., West Winfield


West Edmeston

Center St., Leonardsville


Mill St., Bridgewater




Italianate 1840 - 1885

This was an enormously popular style. A low pitched roof with deeply overhanging eaves supported by heavy decorative brackets are the main signals that a house is Italianate (designed after an Italian Villa). Expensive examples have arched windows with heavy cornices above. This is the style of the "widows walk". Most have decorative porches.

West Winfield

West Winfield


West Winfield

Main St., West Winfield


North St., West Winfield

South St., West Winfield


West Winfield

Leonardsville


Hillside Ave., Leonardsville

Unadilla Forks


Millers Mills

Route 8 North




Stick 1870-1905

Late Victorian styles overlap and are often not strictly one style. The Stick Style occurred between the Queen Ann and High Victorian Gothic and also has a medieval feel. It has a steep pitched roof, large overhanging eaves with exposed rafters and deep porches with "stick" decoration applied to the outside wall surfaces. It also often uses spindle or stick detailing in the gables and verandahs of the house. This was not as common as other Victorian styles.

Main St., West Winfield




Queen Ann - 1870-1910


Late Victorian styles became a jumble of influences and ornamentation. Industrial growth creating a "golden age" of wealth helped to fuel this as well as the size of homes. This also uses English country homes as a base but those from the Tudor period. Anything to avoid a flat surface or square form was used. Patterned shingles, fake half-timbering, towers or turrets, niche porches, bay windows, stained-glass windows, large wrap-around porches, large chimneys, lots of changing very steeply pitched roof lines all collaborated to make the essence of what we think of today as "Victorian". There are modest examples and the later ones tend to begin to have classical elements as the classical/colonial revivals were beginning.

West Winfield

North St., West Winfield


Main St., West Winfield

Center St., Leonardsville


Hillside Ave., Leonardsville

North Center St., Leonardsville

Forks Road

County Rt. 18, Plainfield



West Ed Road, West Edmeston

Main St., West Edmeston